When comparing Dirigible vs Google Cloud Shell, the Slant community recommends Google Cloud Shell for most people. In the question“What are the best cloud IDEs?”Google Cloud Shell is ranked 17th while Dirigible is ranked 30th. The most important reason people chose Google Cloud Shell is:

Pro

Easy to use

Pro

Already has Google Cloud SDK and other tooling installed

Pro

Already provisioned with Google Application Default Credentials

This makes it easier to run/test code that interacts with Google APIs.

Pro

Includes Eclipse Orion IDE already configured

Eclipse Orion can be difficult to setup/configure if creating a do-it-yourself VM running Eclipse. This makes it easier to have a working IDE.

Pro

Inexpensive

Google Cloud Shell is free for Google Cloud Platform customers.

Pro

Supports multiple open files at the same time

One can split the screen and edit two files at once, making it easy to edit one file while consulting the contents of some other file.

Pro

Supports editor and terminal in the same screen

This makes it easy to run commands while editing files at the same time.

Pro

Supports "Boost Mode"

Allowing you to provision a more powerful instance when necessary.

Cons

Con

Poor documentation

Other than the getting started guide on their Github page, their only documentation is in PDF.

Con

Ephemeral Disk

Software installed globally as root (such as via "sudo apt-get install..." ) can be lost when restarting Cloud Shell; any software that needs to be persistent has to be installed in the user directory.

Con

Minimal UI

Cloud Shell's editor is not as featureful as some alternatives.

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